In ancientCeltic polytheism,Verbeia was a goddess worshipped inRoman Britain. She is known from a single altar-stone dedicated to her atIlkley (RIB 635). She is considered to have been a deification of theRiver Wharfe.[1]
An image of a woman (also from Ilkley) may represent the goddess: she is depicted with an overlarge head and schematic features; she wears a long, pleated robe and she has two large snakes, represented as geometric zig-zags, which she grasps, one in each hand.
The stone bearing the image thought to represent Verbeia now stands insideAll Saints' Parish Church and an altar stone dedicated to the goddess is on display inIlkley Manor House. Both buildings are situated on the site of aRoman fort. The fort has been claimed to be named 'Verbeia' (not Olicana, as is generally thought).[2] It was the Second Cohort ofLingones troops[3] stationed here during the second century AD who inscribed the above-mentioned altar-stone.[4]
Anne Ross[5] compares this image with one of a goddess found inMavilly-Mandelot, France, portrayed with a similar pleated garment, holding two snakes in one hand, on an altar associated with aquatic cults. Ross fails to mention that this region of France is where the Lingones, a Gaulish tribe from which the Roman troops were recruited, originated. It seems possible that the Mavilly altar is a precursor of the Verbeia altar.
Some sources state,[4] however, that the Ilkley troops were recruited from the Lingones in northeast Italy; some of the tribe migrated across the Alps in around 400 BCLingones.
TheSwastika Stone is a petroglyph on the northern edge ofIlkley Moor, overlooking the Wharfe valley, which is unique in British rock art. It uses cup-marks, but is otherwise distinct from thecup-and-ring art found across the moor. It is identical in form to certain of theCamunian rose motifs found inVal Camonica, northern Italy. It seems possible that the Lingones troops who worshipped Verbeia may have encountered the Camunian rose on migrating across the Alps, and adopted the symbol, carving it on Ilkley Moor while stationed there.
Ross[6] repeatedly associates Verbeia with the goddessesBrigid andBrigantia. Given thatBrigid's cross is a prevalent swastika-like image in Ireland, there may be further links here between Verbeia, imported Gaulish cults, and the swastika image.
Proto-Celtic is reconstructed as having*werbā- 'blister' in its lexicon[1]Archived 14 January 2006 at theWayback Machine and the name may be a suffixed form of thislexeme meaning “blistered one.” On the other hand, the root of the name may represent a Celtic reflex of theProto-Indo-European root*wer-bhe- ‘bend, turn,’cognate withModern Englishwarp,[2] followed by thedurativesuffix *-j- and thefemininesuffix *-ā- and so might have meant “she who is constantly bending and turning.” Another possibility is that the name is a compound ofRomano-British reflexes of theProto-Celtic elements **Uφer-bej-ā- (upper-strike-F) “the upper striker.”
